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Mario Congreve Wins Emmy for ‘Cuba: the Forgotten Revolution’

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Mario alone
Mario Congreve (courtesy of Discovery Photo).

A new addition in Mario Congreve’s awards cabinet has added significant prominence to its gathering of coveted occupants, and her name is “Emmy.”

Congreve, a media production specialist at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and lecturer in CSUDH’s Digital Media Arts program, was honored with his first Emmy Award on June 18 for his work as co-producer and director of photography for the film Cuba: the Forgotten Revolution which received the Emmy in the Best Documentary category.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Lower Great Lakes Chapter presented Congreve and Glenn Gebhard, the film’s director and a professor at Loyola Marymount School of Film and Television, the regional Emmy award during its 47th Annual ceremony in Sandusky, Ohio.  Calvin S. Ko (CSUDH Class of ’10, B.A., Digital Media Arts), an instructional designer who leads the Live Video Production at CSUDH, served as associate producer.

“It was such an honor for us all to be recognized by the academy. We put several years of production into this documentary, and we are all very proud of what we have achieved,” said Congreve (CSUDH Class of ’88, M.A. Humanities).

“Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution” is currently available on Netflix.
Mario with other winners
(LtoR): Indiana University Bloomington lecturer, Susanne Schwibs, Mario Congreve, and Glenn Gebhard, director of ‘Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution.” (courtesy of Discovery Photo).

Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution tells the virtually unknown story of Cuban revolutionaries Frank Pais and José Antonio Echeverría–a school teacher and architecture student, respectively–whose names seldom appear alongside their more famous contemporaries, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The documentary was co-produced by WTIU Public Television from Indiana University, a PBS affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana, and aired nationally on PBS the past year.­­

“These men were significant figures in the deconstruction of the Cuban revolution, and as the island nation continues to seek open dialogue and trade with the U.S. and other nations, it is important for the world to learn more about these dynamic individuals and other lesser known facets of this era in Cuba’s history,” Congreve said.

The documentary includes archival stock footage, recreations, and exclusive interviews with Cuban revolution participants and observers, family members of the men, and a former CIA agent. The film showcases how País and Antonio Echeverría, who worked largely independently from each other, played critical roles in the eventual overthrow of Cuba dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959.

Congreve is an award-winning film and video cinematographer. His 2012 documentary Greetings from Fire Island received the J. Stuart Blackton Award for Best Documentary at the Long Island Film Festival and won first place in the 2014 Press Club of Long Island Awards in the Arts category. His other awards and honors include the Aegis Award; Telly Award (multiple); Chris Award; Scan/Nato Award; AVA Award; Hermes Creative Award; Communicator’s Award; Winner of the Boston Film Festival for Documentary; Columbus International Film Festival Bronze Plaque; São Paulo International Film Festival Official Selection; Academy Award consideration, Short Feature Documentary; Palma D’Oro, Mexico International Film Festival.